Finding a Wing Chun School in Manila

Several years ago, I had no idea what Wing Chun is. I first heard about it in the show “Fight Quest” on Discovery Channel and thought that it’s an interesting martial art. But I only started researching more about Wing Chun when I saw the movie “Ip Man” starring Donnie Yen. I had no idea who Yip Man was, prior to the movie and after seeing the movie, I was an instant fan. I found out later that he was Bruce Lee’s Sifu. Movie aside, my research found out that Wing Chun is an effective, scientific martial art based on economy of movements, swift and efficient strikes that not just relies on brute strength to overcome one’s opponent but rather on physics, bio-mechanics and tried and tested Wing Chun fighting principles.

That’s why I decided to learn Wing Chun as a means of self-defense. But to my dismay, it was difficult finding a Wing Chun school here in Metro Manila. Others are in the province while some are not existent anymore. I tried different search engines looked into martial arts forums and that’s when I contacted Yuri. Yuri is teaching the Applied Wing Chun. his sifus are Sifu Guy Lai, and Sifu Joseph Musse Jr. who is from Sifu Duncan Leung’s lineage. Sifu Duncan Leung, a private disciple of the late great grandmaster Yip Man, was taught the complete art of Wing Chun by Yip Man and he developed the Applied Wing Chun techniques which have been proven effective in combat.

As a Wing Chun beginner who has very little martial art background, I can say that learning Wing Chun can be easy and hard at the same time. Of course as a beginner, one has to start with the basics. And that includes exercises, drills and basic forms. This is important as this is the foundation upon which one’s skill as a Wing Chun practitioner is based upon. It’s no use learning the advanced and fancy techniques if you haven’t mastered the basics yet. Exercises are equally important because it conditions one’s body to be strong and flexible. Just knowing the technique is not enough if your body hasn’t got the stamina or the necessary strength for the techniques to be effective. Drills and repetitions are also emphasized as they ingrain the techniques to the body in order to gain muscle memory, to make the technique one with the body, to make you react instantaneously when the situation arises. As Bruce Lee once said, “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” Bruce Lee with Yip Man

So learning Wing Chun takes patience, determination and motivation. It cannot be learned by just watching a few videos or attending a few sessions and then afterwards you’ll receive a certificate. There is no shortcut to learning Wing Chun, you have to put in effort. It depends on how much you want to learn it. If you want to know a little, then train a little. If you want to know a lot, then train a lot. But if you want to master it, then live it. For the great masters of Wing Chun, it’s not just a martial art; Wing Chun is a way of life. But learning Wing Chun can also be fun. It will help make you stronger, healthier and more alert; and you’ll also get to meet lots of nice people who share the passion of learning Wing Chun.